Housing Benefit for people renting privately
Updated: 22 May 2012
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You can make a claim for Housing Benefit on privately rented accommodation that you occupy as your home and where you have a responsibility to pay rent and/or rates.
This would include tenancies with a registered housing association, with a charitable or voluntary organization and tenancies where you get support from health and social services. You can also make a claim where your landlord is a private company (for example an estate agent) or where your landlord is a private individual.
How much of my rent will be paid?
If your landlord is a registered housing association then the full amount that you are charged for your accommodation will be used in the calculation of your Housing Benefit award.
Please visit our advice page for housing association tenants for more information.
If your landlord is a charitable or voluntary organization, or where your tenancy allows you to get support from health and social services, we will agree the rental charges with your landlord and the agreed figures would be used in the calculation of your Housing Benefit award.
For all other private types of rented accommodation (in other words properties that are rented from an estate agent or other private companies or properties rented from a private individual) the rental level that will be used to calculate your entitlement to Housing Benefit may be restricted. This is because of conditions set out within a number of different rent schemes that operate in Northern Ireland.
Local Housing Allowance
Local Housing Allowance is the Housing Benefit Scheme for tenants who rent accommodation from private landlords.
LHA is based on rent levels for the area you live in and how many people you live with.
LHA is a fairer and simpler scheme because we will work out your entitlement to Housing Benefit based on the same rent level as other tenants who have similar circumstances and live in the same area as you.
The scheme can help you if you are thinking about moving to privately-rented accommodation by letting you know what rent level we will base your Housing Benefit on before you rent a property. This means you will be able to choose between the quality and cost of your accommodation.
The current complicated system of rent restrictions is being removed. If you are entitled, we will base your LHA on how many people live with you and the area you live in.
Who is eligible for LHA?
LHA applies to you if:
- you make a new claim for Housing Benefit (including if you have stopped claiming it and reclaim) for accommodation you rent from a private landlord
- your entitlement to Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance ends and you are entitled to an extended payment and you rent from a private landlord
- you are already claiming Housing Benefit and you move into a property you rent from a private landlord
Who is unaffected by LHA?
LHA does not apply to you if you have:
- a tenancy with the Housing Executive
- a tenancy with a housing association
- a tenancy where you get support from health and social services, a housing association, a charity or a voluntary organisation
- a tenancy which is not included in the current rent restrictions (these are tenancies which started before April 1996).
- a tenancy in a caravan, mobile home, houseboat or hostel
- A tenancy where your rent is restricted under the Private Tenancies Order (2006) or the 1978 Rent Order
For more information, please visit our section on Local Housing Allowance
